Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Apologizes and Promises to Improve Safety Measures

Concerns continue to be expressed by both investors and analysts on the fast-casual restaurant’s valuation.

The ubiquitous Mexican restaurant chain is facing its second health crisis in two months. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Mr. Ells said teams of public-health and food-safety professionals were going through Chipotle’s entire distribution chain for all 64 ingredients used in its food to develop new procedures that will be “10-15 years ahead of industry norms”. Chipotle temporarily closed a restaurant where the students said they ate and says it believes the illnesses are an isolated case of norovirus separate from the E. coli outbreak.

The ingredient that sickened people has not been identified, but Chipotle said whatever the likely culprit was is out of its restaurants.

There are no other pathogens present in the specimens tested so far and the illness on the university campus is expected to be limited to norovirus, Dunn cited the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as saying. Then, reports of students falling ill in Boston first surfaced Monday.

An investigation by the Food and Drug Administration was not able to locate the exact source of the E. coli outbreak. Arnold said Chipotle has sent senior managers to its restaurants to oversee training, and it is trying to prevent E. coli by testing suppliers.

Though its not clear yet what menu items are responsible for the E. coli outbreak, the illness causes diarrhea and abdominal cramps and, if left untreated, can lead to a type of kidney failure, according to the CDC. Which is exactly what its co-CEO did on the “Today Show” Thursday morning.

Reuters reports that shares for the company jumped over 5% after Ells’ apology. “When we re-open, the [Boston] restaurant will be completely sanitized, and every single employee will have been tested and assured that they do not have norovirus”.

We may be at a higher risk for food-borne illness outbreaks than some competitors due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation.

He said the “silver lining” is that the outbreak prompted Chipotle to double down on its food safety measures and quality control, something Ells said has always been a prominent part of Chipotle’s mission.